The Christian Science Monitor

Peru protests highlight rural-urban divides – and a desire to belong

Peru is living through its worst conflict this century, and the scenes in many ways are reminiscent of its internal conflict of the 1980s and ’90s: Indigenous villagers carry coffins through the streets, parents wail for children taken too soon, and human rights groups decry excessive government force.

The wave of violent anti-government protests, sparked when interim President Dina Boluarte took office last month, also highlights historic dividing lines in Peru: between the rural, mostly Indigenous poor, and the ruling elites in the capital, Lima.

Many protesters support former leftist President Pedro Castillo, who was arrested in December for trying to illegally take control of Congress and the courts. Mr. Castillo is the son of illiterate farmers from a poor Andean region, and despite his transgressions, he is someone many protesters in rural

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